LOS ALAMITOS : Hensley’s Comeback Complete After Six-Month Suspension

When Eddie Hensley stepped on the track with Family Luck for Sacramento’s first race May 27, it reminded him of his first drive in 1986.

The May race was a new start for Hensley. He had been suspended for six months in the fall of 1991 by the New Jersey Racing Commission for his involvement in an attempt to administer a sodium bicarbonate and water “milkshake” to a horse at Freehold (N.J.) Raceway in October.

Injected into a horse’s stomach by a tube through the nose, the mixture is thought to provide a horse with a jolt of energy. Hensley, 25, and two other California-based harness horsemen, Lou Pena and Steve Hyman, received stiff penalties: Hyman for two years, Pena for six months. Hensley didn’t believe that he would be penalized, but wound up skipping an entire meeting at Los Alamitos during the first few months of the year.

The suspension ended in early May, enabling him to drive at Sacramento. He drove his first race for trainer Jimmy Perez, whom Hensley had worked for during the winter at Perez’s farm.

Hensley said that he was nervous before the race. “I wanted to win my first race back just to say, ‘I’m all right. I made it through and I can still win,’ ” Hensley said. “I was depressed (through the winter), but I took it. I knew it was only a six-month suspension.”

Hensley won his first race back for Perez and two nights later won three races, equaling a personal best for most victories in a night. By the end of the season, he had won 41 races and finished third in the driver’s standings despite skipping the first 10 nights of the meeting.

Pena also returned on May 27, and although he didn’t have as many winning drives as Hensley at Sacramento, he trained a stable of horses, including Positron, who competed weekly in the invitational pace. Pena is now based at Los Alamitos. Hyman’s suspension runs through Nov. 22, 1993.

Hensley’s highlight at Sacramento was Dusty Lane Hawk’s 12-length victory in the two-mile Sacramento State Fair Race on Aug. 1. He knew then that his comeback was complete.

“(Winning that first race at Sacramento) was better than winning my first race (in 1986),” he said. “It was a shock to be suspended six months. I thought it was a bit extreme.”

Dusty Lane Hawk was the first stakes winner Hensley drove for Perez since the two combined several times in 1990 with Denali’s Thor. They teamed Friday to win the first leg of the Harvest Gold Series with Idle Talk.

“There are other drivers here that I’ve used, but he knows my horses,” Perez said. “He knows how I like them driven. He’s 25 and I think he’s one of the top drivers on the racetrack. When he won his first race on the first day back, I felt good because he was coming off the suspension and it was the first race of the night. I owned the horse.”

Hensley trained horses at Los Alamitos last year, but does not have a stable. He hopes to get a few horses at the end of the current meeting in November and race at Cloverdale, near Vancouver, during the winter months. He will be back at Los Alamitos in the spring.

“I have to do something for two months and that’s the closest place to race,” he said. “I just want to do well. I hope I do well and (the track) handles well so we can come back next year.”

Ross Croghan has finished in the nation’s top-10 percentage among drivers during the last four years and earlier this year added his first driving title at Los Alamitos. During the summer at Sacramento, his stable, headed by Tim Diliberto, dominated the meeting, winning 71 races, 39 more than second-place Rick Plano.

With Joe Anderson’s stable away in Chicago, Croghan is clearly the driver and stable to beat at the summer-fall meeting. One of his best horses, Tsarina Bret, is undefeated in six starts and will put her record on the line Thursday in the first leg of a series for fillies and mares.

Tsarina Bret, a 6-year-old New Zealand-bred mare, won her U.S. debut on Aug. 14 by three-quarters of a length in 1:57 3/5. Her victory Friday was in 1:59 3/5, but wasn’t a concern for Croghan.

“The track is not fast and (Friday) night we only raced the last quarter-mile,” Croghan said.

Tsarina Bret raced four times in New Zealand last March and April, winning all four starts at 1 1/2 and 1 1/16 miles. Croghan gave her a qualifying race Aug. 7 at Sacramento, where she finished two lengths ahead of Bag A Few, one of the leading mares on the California circuit.

She easily compares to Ella Bonny, a New Zealand mare who raced for Croghan last spring. Ella Bonny won three of six starts before she was fatally injured during a morning workout. She was expected to be one of the top mares in the state.

“I think Tsarina Bret is better and faster (than Ella Bonny),” Croghan said. “She has better manners and she’s quicker.”

Tsarina Bret might not be the favorite to win the first leg of the series, which will be Thursday’s seventh race. The favorite might be Salerno, a 5-year-old mare, who won the invitational pace for fillies on Aug. 14 and was second in last Friday’s division.

Tsarina Bret’s sire, Surmo Hanover, is also the sire of Popsicle, a 6-year-old gelding in Croghan’s barn who finished second to TK’s Skipper in Saturday’s invitational pace. Popsicle has won three of seven starts in the United States, including an invitational pace on Aug. 8 at Sacramento.

Croghan said that Popsicle has been sore since arriving at Los Alamitos two weeks ago, but believes that the gelding could be a factor later in the meeting.

“He has not been smooth on this track,” said Croghan, who adds that if he isn’t held back, the gelding can run “a 27-second quarter like nothing.”

“He’s only a maybe for the American Pacing Classic. Right now, Popsicle is the best in the barn and Tsarina Bret has the best future.”

Los Alamitos Notes

There will be no simulcast races from Sportsman’s Park today and Thursday. Today’s program includes the first legs of two series and an $10,000 invitational trot. Table Card, who was second to Theora Barnum in an invitational on Aug. 14, drew the five post in the six-horse race. . . . Theora Barnum remained undefeated at this meeting with a victory last Friday in the first leg of the Goldsmith Maid Series.